Tuesday 4 August 2009 09.09 EDT
First published on Tuesday 4 August 2009 09.09 EDT

Marcus North has followed up his match-saving stint for Australia in the Edgbaston Test by expressing the wish to face an England side powered by a fully fit Andrew Flintoff when the Ashes series moves on to Headingley on Friday.

"We want to play the best that we can play against," North said before Australia travelled up to Leeds today. "We want to walk away taking the Ashes back home, beating a full strength England side."

North's expressed ambition to defeat a full-strength England is unachievable, as Kevin Pietersen's achilles operation has already ruled him out of the series, but he has no wish for Flintoff also to succumb to injury before the series is through.

"I am sure that he'll be fronting up on Friday," he said. "We've seen the impact Flintoff has had on this series. It's hard to compete with how he bowled at Lord's."

Perhaps North's ambition to face Flintoff during the last two Tests of the series is part of an elaborate double bluff from an Australian side that imagines England might yet gamble excessively on the fitness of their talismanic all-rounder.

North, whose 96 at Edgbaston in his fifth Test, to follow up two Test hundreds, continued a successful elevation from county cricket locum to redoubtable Test batsman, insisted that Flintoff remained a formidable opponent with the ball. "He had a quiet game with the ball at Edgbaston, but it's hard to be critical of how he bowled this game," he said. "He bowled some good spells."

North was almost omitted for Shane Watson at Edgbaston, with Australia finally opting instead to leave out Phillip Hughes, and that selection was rewarded when Watson performed well as an opener and North and Clarke put on 183 on the final day to silence England's talk of victory.

That defiance will now secure North's place for the rest of the series and he hopes it will also kick start an Australian revival as they enter Headingley one down with two to play.

"The most important thing for me is to perform as consistently as possible and make sure there is no room for any talk of leaving me out of the team," he said. "We all knew the last day was going to be a tough day of Test cricket, one where the Australian team would have to show some character and fight, and we did that.

Australia must draw the series to retain the Ashes, but must win both remaining matches – and the series – to protect their ranking as the No1 Test side in the world.

"If we play our best cricket we walk away winning Tests against any opponent," North said. "We take away with us a lot of momentum and character and fight out of the Edgbaston Test, and hopefully that can set us up for the remaining two Tests.''